> Just the question of postage has me beat, it must be so much cheaper
> for the supplier for shipping to me as opposed for me to ship to them.
>  How does international postage work.  I am sure the same carriers are
> used in both direction but one direction is so much cheaper (or at
> least thats how it appears).

Not quite on the original subject, but related, and worthwhile.

I don't know, but it is clear that people who send electronic goods
from Asia to Western countries (USA, UK, NZ, ...) have a special
arrangement. I have priced freight and postage and courier costs
NZ-China and China-NZ. There is no fast delivery rate available to me
for China-NZ that comes close to what they are being sent for. Even if
they combine multiple orders into a single unit the cost/kg is far
higher than they manage. Either there is a very special rate which is
inaccessible to mere mortals or they are doing something very clever.
It's possible that there is a "when there is spare room in the
aircraft" rate that may take a few days to send.

The cheapest air-freight rate that I  found was a new  pre-booked
baggage rate just introduced by Air NZ a few eeeks before I used it.
If you phone in hours to days before the flight you can book excess
baggage at a arate far far below normal excess baggage rate. I bought
back 46 kg of goods and stuff as  "pre-booked  baggage" . First 23 kg
was AFAIR about $NZ100  $US80 or about $US3.50/kg =3D about 6 to 7 times
lower than courier rates. The second bag was about $NZ150 / $US120 or
~=3D $US5.20 kg.
Average for the two was about $US200/46 kg =3D $4.35/kg or 5 to 6 times
lower than courier (or airmail).

Sea freight is cheap. I think something like $80/m^2 China-NZ. That's
approximately free for small items. If you want less than a container
full it may cost you slightly more.

EMS (China postal and courier service) are about the same cost as
Fedex / DHL / UPS for air freight small items and in fact were dearer
than eg UPS above a certain weight. (The two depots in SEG area in
Shenzhen were nearby(as you'd expect)) and I checked latest prices at
both. BUT EMS had a rate which I had to pry out of them as they seemed
t think that nobody would want to use it at far less than air freight
(10% or less?)  with about 6 weeks sea freight delivery. That pricing
is consistent with what one sees on parcels from Asia - BUT they are
sent by air. Finding the answer would be worthwhile.


                  Russell
--=20
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